Writing Software

And, no, I don’t mean writing the programs that make these computers of ours work! That stuff is way beyond me! I’m talking about the programs we use to write our stories, novels, screenplays, etc. But, of course, you knew that already, didn’t you? ;)


I started out like most people- using the word processor on my computer. For a long time, that was Microsoft Word. It works well, actually, as I think most decent word processors would. You can just open a blank page and start typing, or you can use one of the templates provided in the program to format your work. You can even make your own, if you are so inclined, or need a specific format for your writing. I used it for years, and was happy.

Then, I found out that there are people (and companies) out there who make software specifically for writers. Really? Hmmm, I thought, this may need investigating.

One of the popular writing software programs is called Scrivener. Lots of people use it. Only one problem- it’s always been a Mac program, and I am a dedicated Windows user. I won’t get into that debate now, but I am and I don’t see that changing in the near future. Recently, the folks who put out Scrivener (Literature & Latte) have put out a Windows beta version of the program, with the full program slated to go live this year, I believe. I was already using something else (which I will get to in a minute), but as this one is so popular, and the beta is free, I thought I’d give it a try. I downloaded the program, installed it, went through the tutorials, and gave it a shot with a new short piece I was starting. Early last week, I uninstalled it from my computer.

Why? No issues with the program. It worked very nicely and wasn’t particularly buggy, at least with the features I used. I stopped using it because it just wasn’t that much different from what I have been using for a few years now, and without an overwhelming “Wow” reason to change, I decided to stick with the other one.

I’ve been using yWriter, and I like it very much. It’s shareware, so you don’t have to spend any money, but I wasn’t really worried about that. The price tag in the Windows Scrivener wasn’t going to be outrageous ($40 last time I checked) and if I’d liked it well enough, I would have bought it. The main reason is that yWriter works quite well for the way I write, and I really didn’t find Scrivener to be that much of an improvement, or even really much different as far as that goes. Yes, Scrivener is prettier- the cork board looks nice, but yWriter’s storyboard is much the same, just not as fancy looking. Both programs let you work in small “bits” of a story: chapter, scene, etc. Yes, it’s a little easier in Scrivener to look at the story as a whole, but I usually don’t do that until I’ve hit the end of the first draft, so exporting the whole to a readable full document is fine with me. Both keep track of as many or as few details as you want in your work: characters, places, things, timelines, and more. Both keep your word count, of course. There are a few things that are a bit convoluted to figure out for the first time in yWriter (I do wish there was a more comprehensive user manual!), but there’s a lot of help online and once you figure it out, well, you’ve figured it out. All in all, I decided to stick with yWriter.

I hope the folks at Scrivener do well with their Windows version, and I know lots of writers out there swear by it. But if you are looking for a good, no nonsense, no frills writing program, you might give yWriter a try.

http://www.spacejock.com

(Disclaimer: I get no benefit from liking the software. I am just a satisfied user.)

Reading List

The latest two books I've finished-

Crystal Rain by Tobias H. Buckell
Living peacefully on Nanaganda, John deBrun is basically content with his life. He has a wife and teenage son, and makes a decent living from fishing the local waters. The only unsettling part is that he cannot remember anything before he washed up on the shore of his village, with one hand replaced by a metal hook. He has come to terms with his amnesia and is content with life until the Azteca invade from across the nearby mountain range and overrun his village. John escapes and as he struggles to find his wife and son, he finds out that he is the key to unlocking the secrets of the Ma Wi Jung, a technologically advanced artifact left behind by the old-fathers who colonized the planet long ago.

This was a pretty good read. There was a bit of adjustment to the dialect used by the mongoose men (a Caribbean based language variant). But once beyond that, the story moves along well, with plenty of action and twists. There is a fair amount of violence, as the Azteca, as their name implies, are modeled after the Aztec and Mayan races, and have preserved the human sacrifice aspect of those races.

Characters are interesting and well-drawn. Even John's son, Jerome, is pretty realistic as a young teenager, alternately stubborn and sullen, then emotional and involved. There are military men, politicians, interfering aliens looked on as "gods", bush fighter mercenaries, and more. All in all, I did like this one.

Nightlife by Rob Thurman
When I finished this one, and typed the ISBN into the book swap site I use, it came up as "Cal Leandros, Book 1". I have to admit that my gut reaction to that was: There are more??

The plot centers on Cal Leandros, who is half-human and half-elf, here called Auphe. These are not your typical elves. These guys revel in torture and grisly killing. Cal and his older brother, Niko, have been running from Cal's fathers' people for four years, and they end up in New York city. There are supernatural beings everywhere in the city- a boggle in Central Park, a rich vampire in a swank apartment, a troll under the Brooklyn Bridge, and werewolves everywhere. Most humans are completely unaware of all of them. Cal knows because of his non-human side. His father and his people have been waiting for Cal (whose birth was engineered for just this purpose) to mature, so they can use him and the demon they have hired to possess him, to open a gate to a past world before humanity became the overwhelming majority and pushed the supernatural beings nearly to extinction.

It wasn't the worst book I've read, but it certainly wasn't the best. The plot is an old one. Which is not to say it can't be done well. The ending was not what I expected, I will admit, and that was a nice surprise. Where it fails for me is the characters. The book is first person, told from Cal's perspective, and he is incessanlty whiny. "Poor me, look at me, I'm half a demon, my life sucks." Over and over. Even when the demon has control, he does nothing but complain. Granted, in a more murderous and evil manner, but still it's complaining. Niko is the stony, strong, silent type taken to the extreme. The sarcastic back and forth between the brothers is amusing at times, but a bit stilted and cliched at others. The redeeming character for me is Robin Goodfellow. Yep, the puck also lives in the Big Apple, as a used car salesman, no less. But he's clever and the stereotype car salesman fits him perfectly. And he turns out to be one of the good guys. There's a minor character of a Healer, who has cousin who is apparently a werewolf, but not. Well, he is a wolf, but neither Cal nor Robin can "smell" the supernatural about him. And that's the end of that story, which was a little disconcerting, unless that's the opening left for a future story. It left me feeling a bit left out.

The action is plenty, there is some violence, and lots of angst. This one didn't up my opinion of the urban fantasy genre much.

Well, That Didn't Work

My plan to get the draft of the WIP out to readers last week. I started gathering it together to send, and discovered on reading parts that there is a lot I have to fill in before it would make sense to read. And if it doesn't make sense, then I doubt anyone can crit it well. *sigh*

And the ending that I know needs re-writing? Might be a good idea if I actually wrote it first. It's partly written, but not at all finished. *double sigh*

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. This thing was started 2 years ago, and there has been a long break of not really working on it since, so forgetting a lot of details is to be expected. Just frustrating.

On the up side, I did get a lot of good work done on it last week and over the weekend, so I believe I will be able to send off the first 5 chapters. That's a start. So, back to work.

Write. Now.

Time On My Hands

I had knee surgery last Friday. Nothing major, just cleaning up a torn meniscus and a few other things. It went well, according to the doctor. All was done arthroscpically, so it's supposed to heal up pretty fast. But I do have to take it a little easy on it and keep it elevated and all that. I'm down to using just one crutch and can put some weight on it. And am mostly off the pain meds, except at night, so I can sleep.

What does all this have to do with writing? Well, one would think, with all this time sitting on the sofa with the leg propped up, I could get a whole lot done, yes? One would be wrong. Oh, I did get some done. I pretty much finished up that last scene in the Novel-In-Progress (hereafter known as the NIP), which has been a goal for a while now. I've been hesitating on reading it back now. Why? Because once I can say to myself that it's done (not complete, but we'll get to that), I have to move on to the next step: readers. And that is always the hardest part for me.

I'm not even asking them to make complete critiques right now. All I have "finished" is the main plot- no sub-plots, side story or back story. And all I really want to know is if it hangs together as the basic story. There are problems, I know that. The ending needs a huge rewrite, but it gives the gist of it and that's what I need right now. So why the hesitation?

Hey, this is my baby! I've been working on this thing, off and on, for two years. I think it's a pretty decent story that could make a nice read. But, deep down, I still have that fear of failure. I chose the people I would like to read it for me now because I think they will be honest. I'm sure they will point out the flaws, some of which I am aware of. Some, I'm sure, will be new to me. I need that, of course. I have to know what's wrong before I can fix it. What I fear most is that they will say it just plain stinks, start to finish. Then what? I keep telling myself that won't happen. But the nagging doubt remains.

Goal for this week? Get the manuscript out there. Ignore the doubting voice, because if no one ever reads it, it doesn't matter how bad or good it is, right?

The hardest thing in the world is to finally hit that SEND key.

Write. Now.

Review: Marco and the Red Granny

Since they say a writer should read as well as write, I thought maybe I'd drop the occasional review of what I've been reading here. So here's one-

Marco and the Red Granny by podcaster and writer Mur Lafferty (http://www.murversre.com/ and the excellent I Should Be Writing podcast), was serialized on the Hub, a weekly(ish) sci-fi broadcast. It’s also short, and easily read in a day or so. None of that is to say it’s a bad story. Far from it.


The Marco in the title is a down on his luck graphic artist and writer. Much of the artistic content being produced is under the control of aliens based on the Moon. They have developed a way of integrating art and sensory experience. So it is possible to now have a dress that makes you taste apple pie, or a sculpture that encompasses the plot of a story. The aliens have resurrected the practice of artistic patronage, bringing various artists from Earth to the Ride Lunar Base to help them create. Marco’s ex-girlfriend accepted one such patronage and left him for it. One morning, Marco gets the call that he, too, has been chosen for a patronage. He sets off for the Moon, and on the way meets the Red Granny, an older woman who is the reigning star of a bloody, to the death reality fight show. Once he arrives on the Moon, Marco soon discovers that the coveted artistic patronages are not what they might seem, and that everyone, the Red Granny included, has secrets.

The story is interesting, with a neat take on alien invasion. If you’re looking for space battles and laser cannons, you won’t find it here. But the danger is no less threatening. There is some violence, though it is fairly minor. The characters are well-drawn, especially the Red Granny, who, although not the main character, is probably the most interesting. The aliens are alien, and enigmatic, and dangerous, a good combination in aliens. The plot kept my interest, with enough twists and a surprise or two to keep it moving along.

This was the first thing I purchased for my new Kindle, and it was a good choice.

The End Is In Sight

Update:
Sunday: 3,692 written
Monday: 3,030 written
Tuesday: 2,032 written
Total: 40,484

Seven days to go for this year's NaNoWriMo.  I have 9,516 words left to hit 50,000.  Well, I'm going to say six days, because I think I will most likely be taking tomorrow off.  Family coming and all that.  Even so, it leaves me with a minimum of under the 1,667 words/day, and I'll make it.  So, if I can get my own goal of 2,000 a day, I'll get there.  Phew!  I was really unsure for a while about actually finishing this year, but I think it's going to work.

Now, remember that "dog" of a story I started with?  And then abandoned because I couldn't figure out where it was going?  Darned if the thing didn't pop into my head on Monday with something that I think is going to work.  So back into that we go.  And yesterday, a new character walked up to the three main folk out of nowhere- almost literally, as they were out in the desert at the time!  A nice British fellow, no less.  It looks like at least he knows what's going on.  Now, as long as he keeps telling me....

Which is today's point, I think.  As much as I am one who likes to have a good idea what a story is about, and usually do a plot summary and at least partial outline, I know you always have to be ready to let the story take its own direction sometimes.  Good ideas come from all sorts of places, and there are times when the really good idea doesn't show itself until you actually start writng.  If the story really wants to go in a different direction, there really isn't much harm in letting it.  (Unless you are under a really tight deadline and can't afford to meander, or you are writing or re-writing with specific goals.  Like an editor's revisions for a sale, perhaps.)  You can always go back to the original idea if the new one doesn't work out.  I usually find that if the story is telling itself, that's what you should trust.  Because if you force it to fit your mold, it's going to seem just that- forced.  Give yourself- and your story- some space to breathe.  You might just be surprised!

Write. Now.

Changing Yet Again

Update:
Yesterday: 2019
Total: 23179

Not quite caught up, but getting closer.  Feeling better about making it this year.

Well, the dog of a story I started has been retired.  Even trying to convince myself that it was going to be a good experience, and help me learn to write better, and build some of the skills I need work on, all that- nope, still hated the thing, didn't want to work on it, kept falling more behind because of that.

Had a short email conversation with a friend who pointed out that there is really nothing wrong with finishing up with a different story than you started with.  Took me a bit to let that sink in, but I've decided to put the dog down, so to speak, and write what's been niggling at my head for a long time now.

Ok, yeah, it's fanfic.  I write one or two a year, anyway, just because I like playing in other people's worlds!  Who doesn't?  And I've got other "real" stories in progress, or in editing, or beta reading, so I think I am just going to indulge myself in this month of frantic writing and go for it.

And y'know what?  I am enjoying NaNo again.  It's fun to write this now.  Characters are speaking to me, plots are unfolding, my brain is churning.  I have to be a bit careful with this one.  It's kind of an extension of one of the stories that has been written by the original author.  It's my version of what happened, because there are two (that I know of) variants on the story.  The original leaves things a little open.  So I don't want to leave out anything that is stated as fact in the original, and at the same time, I don't want to just rewrite all of that, either.  It's been done, far better than I probably could, anyway. 

Which puts a lot of it out of order, as I think of things I need to deal with and keeps me on my toes when writing.  All good things, because if you can't get excited about what you are writing, how can you expect anyone else to?  And that's my point for today.

Now, off to do a bit of research, and then get that word count up!

Write. Now.